November 8, 2004 – With unseasonably warm weather and a stellar new venue, round #5 of the Emerald City Cyclocross series provided yet another great day of racing in the northwest. Held at Cascade Junior High School, the course was fast and the dry weather kept lap times in the mid five minute range.

Round 4 winner Russell Stevenson (BRI) and Maxxis-Giant’s Jonny Sundt opened up a gap almost from the gun, with cross legend Dale Knapp(Kona) riding alone in third.

Stevenson and Sundt rode like teammates on a course where drafting was a big factor. One spectator remarked that it looked like a two man time trial at times. Taking one lap pulls each, the Sundt-Stevenson duo had a half lap lead with two laps remaining. They decided to forgo the usual cat and mouse games for the finish, and kept the throttle wide open all the way to the last corner where they sat up and congratulated each other on a fine ride. Sundt rolled across the line first for the victory with Stevenson right next to him. When asked why they did not sprint for the win the two were quick to point out that if they had been racing against each other they would not have been putting out so much effort in their pulls on the front, and both needed to ride hard in their preparation for the upcoming National Championships in Portland.

Sundt said “it would have been a shame to ruin such a nice cooperative effort with last lap screwing around trying to beat each other, Russ and I have ridden on the same teams so many times in our careers it was fun to ride with him again, we pushed each other really hard today”

Sundt and Stevenson have been the only two riders to win races in the Emerald City Series in the senior “A” category this year

Results
1. Jonny Sundt – Maxxis-Giant
2. Russell Stevenson – BRI
3. Dale Knapp – Kona